When I’m dining out I try my hardest to venture out to new restaurants. I figure life is short so I might as well try as many different places as possible, especially when each new restaurant provides the opportunity to bring untapped inspiration into my kitchen. Sometimes though I will venture back to a favorite restaurant. Locally I enjoy Fugakyu, an amazing fusion sushi restaurant. One of the things I love about their sushi rolls is they often include cream cheese in inventive ways. Purists might cringe at this, but I am a lover of all things involving cream cheese, sushi included.
Inspired by this, I decided to make some quick maki. But rather than stick with cream cheese I decided to instead use some goat cheese. I paired the goat cheese with julienned Granny Smith apple and sushi grade salmon all wrapped in nori and brown rice.
This was one of those flavor combinations that made my mouth happy because it was quite the melange of flavors and textures. Tart and fatty. Creamy and crunchy. Nutty and salty. What could be better? I especially liked the goat cheese instead of cream cheese because the latter can tend to be a little rich and almost overwhelming against a rich fish. The lighter mouth feel and tang of goat cheese made for a more balanced, and more nuanced pairing. It was great with simple soy sauce, but when I make it again I’m definitely going to do more of a maple-soy dipping sauce.
You’ll also notice I mentioned above that this was some quick maki. That’s because rather than making my own sushi rice I cheated and bought some from my local sushi counter. Normally I’m all about cooking 100% from scratch, but preparing good sushi rice is a bit of an art. Until I perfect this, I don’t mind cheating every now and then.
Serves 2
Ingredients:
-2 sheets nori
-1 cup prepared sushi rice (I used brown sushi rice from my local Whole Foods, but feel free to use what you like best)
-1.5 ounces sushi grade salmon, cut into thin strips
-1.5 ounces goat cheese, cut into strips about 1 centimeter wide
-1/4 a Granny Smith apple, cut into match sticks
Method:
Lay a piece of nori down on your rolling mat, shiny side down. Spread 1/2 the cooked sushi rice over the nori, leaving a 1/2-inch strip of nori uncovered at the bottom. To make this process easier, you’ll want to keep your hands wet by dipping your fingers in a small bowl of water.
Place 1/2 the sushi, goat cheese, and apple along the strip of uncovered nori. Using the rolling mat, begin to tightly roll the sushi starting at the filling side and rolling away from you.
Using a sharp knife, slice the roll into your desired number of pieces. Repeat the above steps with the remaining ingredients and serve with soy sauce, pickled ginger, and wasabi.
Note: If you’re rolling sushi for the first time, the blog Sushi Day has a very visual demo.
Where do you stand on the sushi spectrum? Do you like yours with cream cheese? Without? Perhaps you don’t like sushi at all.
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Ha, now that’s a creative, nontraditional roll alright! I’m up new sushi combos though, so I like where you’re going with this. Now If I could find a decent substitute for salmon, hmm…
Hannah,
I recently ate at a great local raw vegan restaurant with a friend and marinaded papaya was a surprisingly good stand in.
I can’t even tell you how much I want that roll RIGHT NOW. OMG- awesomeness!
I LOVE sushi and I recently discovered that I love fruit in sushi. Cream cheese I can go without but this combo sounds divine!
I’d make this without the salmon! Vegetarian sushi is one of my favorite things, especially plain cucumber maki. But granny smith apples and goat cheese sounds like a great combo. And sushi making sounds like a really good ieda for an at-home date night with my boyfriend!
I’ve been wondering where you were for a while, I just realized that I neglected to update my Google Reader with your new URL!!! Hello, a nice little backlog of delicious posts to read.
For starters… yum maki!! What an interesting combination, and I love that you got sushi rice for a local restaurant. That’s really smart, I think the rice is what holds me back from trying sushi at home. It’s intimidating, I’ve read how difficult it can be to get right.
What an intriguing twist on the usual smoked salmon and cream cheese. Forget the bagel, I’ll have mine in sushi instead any day.
I love Fugakyu too! Your maki with goat cheese sounds fantastic. And by the way, can’t wait for Saturday
Genius Kelly, genius. I love sushi, but am not a purist. One of my favorite offerings at Fin’s is the sweet potato tempura roll.
Your idea of incorporating goat cheese, salmon, and apple in a roll is fabulous. I must make these!
I like sushi but not as much as I like sashimi. The combination of goat cheese and salmon sound wonderful together! I don’t usually like those California rolls with a ton of creamy-crab mixture inside. I feel like I’m just eating a crab salad sandwich except with rice instead of bread!
what a wonderful combo! i’m intrigued
cream cheese is ok, doesn’t make it or break it for me, though!